Happy times have been few and far between recently for UK football. (Vicky Graff Photo)
This has been a relatively quiet week for Kentucky football — and should be with the Wildcats 2-3 and home games with Texas and Tennessee coming up Oct. 18 and 25.
Coach Mark Stoops has been under constant criticism for his team’s play the last two seasons, and it does not seem to be getting any better. Stoops is the tenth highest-paid coach in college football, according to USA TODAY’s 2025 compensation survey. He will earn $9,012,000, which ranks fifth in the Southeastern Conference.
If UK wanted to make a coaching change and fire Stoops without cause, he would be owed $37,687,500, which ranks as the 13th most expensive buyout among 105 contracts USA TODAY could review.
“It pains me to no end what has happened to UK Football program over the last 3 years, with no progress seen for the immediate future. Seeing Kentucky listed at the bottom of SEC power listings by so many experts is not what any of us expected. UK leadership must step up, make changes,” Oscar Combs, Cats’ Pause founder and Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame inductee, posted on social media earlier this week.
The former Cats’ Pause publisher has been a long-time UK supporter who grew up in eastern Kentucky and changed college sports coverage with his weekly publication devoted strictly to UK sports 50 years ago.
Kentucky football is in a free fall. The Cats have now lost to Georgia 16 straight times and have not scored more than two offensive touchdowns in a SEC game the last two years. Kentucky is 6-11 in the last two years and 1-10 in SEC play. In those 11 conference games, the combined score is: Opponents 312, Kentucky 160.
One could easily argue that Kentucky currently is the worst football program in the SEC, just four years after the Cats won 10 games in 2021 under Stoops.
In those last 11 SEC games, Kentucky has scored over 20 points only four times and never managed to score more than 23. That’s not the way to win games in the prestigious SEC. Other SEC teams have high-powered offenses, but not Kentucky, and while UK defensive coordinator Brad White has also been under fire, it’s hard — or maybe almost impossible — to hold SEC offenses to 10 points per game, which is what it would take for UK to win.
With Big Blue Madness Saturday and an exhibition game with No. 1 Purdue just over two weeks away, apathy is going to continue to grow among the UK football fan base
On WLAP Sunday Morning Sports, we got a call from Don, a long-time UK fan who it was easy to tell loved UK football. He told us he was a Boy Scout ushering UK football and basketball games in 1965 before the Committee of 101 (Blue Coats) started doing that in 1966.
“I am making a call I don’t want to make. I have got to tell you what I would tell Mark Stoops if I was sitting down across the table from him. ‘Coach I appreciate what you have done for this program. I know you are a man of integrity. I would just ask if you are a man of integrity and if you can’t take care of yourself and one or two future generations of family with the money you have been paid, and deservedly so, I don’t understand that. But please don’t hold this university and fan base hostage with this contract and give us the opportunity to move on.’ This is what I would ask coach Mark Stoops,” Don told us on the show.
Stoops has made it clear he’s not walking away from the $37 million he would be owed if UK fires him, even if the UK program has spiraled the wrong way.
“No SEC program sans Vanderbilt should ever be in a position where you’re spinning your wheels with no answers in sight, things are getting worse and not better, no identity and no obvious way out, but your AD (athletics director) is doing nothing to project that it could get better sometime,” Justin Rowland of Rivals.com posted on social media this week.
That’s why Combs was only voicing what most UK football fans now believe when he said it was time for changes to be made.
21 Responses
Sad state of affairs.
I would like to know just what happened three years ago for Stoops to take his eye off the ball so profoundly. I've seen this happen in business and it takes a significant emotional event for a person to his mojo like this. Some people call it taking a vacation from reality but something or a combination of somethings happened to cause Coach Stoops to completely lose his sense of purpose and vision and he has not yet recovered.
We read a lot of opinions but no one has offered up any real facts. It was a too significant event or events for there not to be facts. Someone needs to uncover them so that we don't make this mistake again.
Schlarman passing hurt. A lot. RIP, John.
On the personal life side of his ledger, he went through a nasty divorce in 2021, and his conduct leading to that divorce was not stellar.
Since then, the football program has gone to heck in a handbasket.
Cheated on his wife, got the girl pregnant, wife moved kids out of state, drinks too much and looks to be covid jab injured on top of all that.
That’s a full resume, but all on the negative side of the ledger. So busy with extra curricular activities, he could not find time to try to stop the slide of UK FB.
What does covid jab injured mean?
HMMMMMM
Everybody knows that major changes are needed in Kentucky football. Stoops even knows it, but he isn't going to give up his $9 million meal ticket until 2031. He better get used to half filled stadiums and a chorus of boos every time he takes the field. This doesn't escape the notice of players too. We are already seeing decommits from 2026 and the exodus to the transfer portal from this team will resemble the Israelites leaving Egypt. The difference will be Stoops will still be here in Lexington and he will be coaching kids who weren't good enough to play anywhere else. THANK YOU BARNEY.
The 2 best news events that have crossed my screen the last 24 was 1. Israel/Gaza peace talks and 2. Talk of Stoop's buy-out. The program has never looked more bleak, and it is really rather nauseaous to see Stoops step behind a microphone let alone repeat his worn out talking points. It is difficult to even visualize a 4 win season with schedule ahead. Let's not forget…..the mighty Tenn Tech is 5-0. Let's go Tech!
Stoops hit his ceiling with this program from 2017-2021. We were on a upward trajectory until after the 2021 season. Since then we've been a decline and a major decline last year and this year. It's ok in the SEC to have one bad season every 3-4 years if your a mainstay. That's the reason Stoops is the longest tenured coach and he's been at Kentucky now for 13 years. He had us off the ground running since his first recruiting class. I think even tho alot of people envisioned this being the top for Stoops he had other plans. If you noticed bigger jobs came calling but none of them ever pulled the trigger. The biggest school that sniffed Stoops was Texas A&M and Florida State. If they would have rolled out the red carpet for Stoops he would have been gone in the blink of a eye. The problem is Stoops brand of football is boring. Fans like excitement touchdowns and sacks. He loves a 17-14 type of game. Minimizing possessions and the mission is not to score touchdowns and try to win. It's let's not allow the other team to score touchdowns but they can have as many field goals as they want to. Bend but don't break. The worst slogan for a defense you can have. It's like let's lose but let's make it at least close. Stoops used to talk about winning the SEC and trying to make a good bowl game. I never hear him mentioning winning a national championship. Isn't that the goal no matter what team you are or what conference you play in. Stoops has a losing way at looking at things. He is the worst offensive coach out of any power 4 program. We have the worst offensive coordinator in all of power 4 football as well. Im tired of hearing about the recruits we get and we don't have the talent that these other teams have because thats not true. Look at Vanderbilt. Our roster on paper looks way better and it's not even close. The difference in Kentucky's teams and Vanderbilt is about the same gap between Kentucky against Georgia's team. Vanderbilt looks night and day better than us. They actually run plays that make sense and they work. We could have the same success if the coaches put the players in the right place at the right situation we would be a totally different team. Look at Stellatto from Clemson. He has been a steady contributor on a much better program and team the last 3-4 years. Has almost 70 catches playing with receivers that are in the NFL that played on Clemson. Some of those receivers who are now in the NFL all glowed when talking about Stellato. "He has the best hands" he's the best route runner ". He comes to Kentucky and he has 0 catches in 5 games. Yes he was a little banged up ( from practice) which also makes no sense. Why we always have so many guys who get hurt in practice. Then you see them on the sideline moonwalking and dancing and jumping but they can't play because of a undisclosed injury. We always have twice sometimes three times more than any other team. How? Why? If Stoops had any dignity he would step down at the end of the year. He said when he first came that he wanted to leave the program better than he found it. Right now talent wise we are a little better than when he got here. If we don't win anymore games except one or two the honorable thing to do would be to tell Kentucky to give you 50% of the buyout and walk away. That would be doing both Kentucky and Stoops a favor. If we go 3-9 or 4-8 and he stays another year we will back to the Joker Phillips days maybe worse because the rest of the SEC is passing us by. Even Vanderbilt is on another level and it all starts with the coaching staff. We need to hit the reset button on the program. While also retaining as many from the 2024 recruiting class and beyond. Maybe we just need to hit the reset button on the whole program players and coaching. A losing mentality is contagious and Stoops has ruined a ton of kids futures. That's when it becomes a real problem. Not redshirting certain players and then redshirting guys who are ready are one of Stoops biggest problems with developing the recruits he is getting. Since schlurman* the offensive line coach passed and Sumrall stopped helping coach the defense Kentucky hasn't been the same. I would take Eddie Gran over Stoops. He also has his brother coaching the linebackers. I mean how hungry and motivated do you think his brother is to coach the linebackers? Wolford ran off in the night like a man chasing a woman half his age without a call or reason. We lost recruits because of this and Marrow left because he seen the writing on the walls. He actually seen the time was up. They had 12 years to make some serious noise in the SEC and they only had 2 great seasons. It also took bowl wins to win 10 games. We aren't talking about a 10-2 playoff type year. In Stoops best 2 years 2018 and 2021 we wouldn't have made the playoffs. Let that sink in for a minute. So deep down he knows we will never make the playoffs with him as our coach. 2022 and 2024 on paper was our best teams. We went 7-6 in 2022 and 4-8 in 2024. The experts were saying we were a playoff caliber team in 2024 and we went 4-8 and on paper recruit rankings and transfer rankings combined we supposedly had the 12th best roster in 2024 and went 4-8. Yes everyone pulls the injury card but when is that not going to be considered a excuse???
a combination of things happened three years ago… November 22 he signed this contract… guaranteeing him a job without effort.. and paid 10th best in America for doing so.. I think he went from being very Hands-On to (hand)ing out most of what made him a good coach … I seriously doubt he's involved with the defensive backs as he was in his first 10 years though I'm just guessing because the defensive backs aren't as good as they were and I have yet to attend a practice in the last 3 years… also 3 years ago we lost our offensive coordinator to the NFL… and this isn't all on stoops.. our offense has been putrid… whether it's recruiting or just flat-out bad coaching we don't have an offense… and our defense can only do so much and if you're putting it the game on them that's a lot of pressure to put on a lot of 18 to 22 year olds, who look at their offensive counterparts as 11 bodies… the most surprising thing to me is Hamden getting a second year considering the coaches we went through that were better … this guy was never any good anywhere he went he had one good year because he had two good players that he didn't recruit.. cutter boley is a trooper staying knowing he could have a better offensive line practically anywhere else .. but I don't mean to rain on stoops but until he proves me wrong this is how I feel
At least Arkansas had the Cahunas to fire more than HC. Every coach we currently have on staff have to feel as insecure as they have ever felt and well deserved. This is all systems failure. We continue to be the laughing stock of FBS.
Stoops coaching style doesn’t work in today’s SEC. It’s time for the university to move on. Buy him out and hire Sumrall or Gruden.
Gruden would have the name recognition but doesn't have the coaching creds that we need for rebuild.
After the nightmare UK faced with the untouchable co tractor with the BB coach contract, the inept AD did the same thing putting UK in a non-negotiable corner with the UK FB coach.
The UK AD and everyone who agreed to the contract needs to be fined (get their money to buy out the loser coach) and then FIRE the AD and FIRE administrators responsible for rubber stamping the contract.
This will happen again if Barnie is not fired!!
AD, HC & OC are holding UK FB program & fans hostage!!!
Universities like UK have never had a real chance to be competitive in the SEC in football. With the advent of NIL and the transfer portal that task has gotten even harder.
UK fills it's roster every recruiting season with mostly 3 star recruits while the top football power schools sign all 4 and 5 star talent. Even if a few if these 3 star players turns out to be better than expected UK and schools like that can't keep them from transferring a year later for a better NIL deal from a traditional power.
The people who run college football do so with only 20-25 teams receiving any concern. The other division 1 teams are just pawns. They can't get it keep top coaching staffs and they are always fielding the middle of the road talent.
If the powers of college football care about the sport they need to find a way to spread the talent out more efficiently like basketball has figured out. One way to do that is to decrease the number of scholarships a team can offer annually and overall. Then make transfers sit out a year.
Universities like UK have never had a real chance to be competitive in the SEC in football. With the advent of NIL and the transfer portal that task has gotten even harder.
UK fills it's roster every recruiting season with mostly 3 star recruits while the top football power schools sign all 4 and 5 star talent. Even if a few if these 3 star players turns out to be better than expected UK and schools like that can't keep them from transferring a year later for a better NIL deal from a traditional power.
The people who run college football do so with only 20-25 teams receiving any concern. The other division 1 teams are just pawns. They can't get it keep top coaching staffs and they are always fielding the middle of the road talent.
If the powers of college football care about the sport they need to find a way to spread the talent out more efficiently like basketball has figured out. One way to do that is to decrease the number of scholarships a team can offer annually and overall. Then make transfers sit out a year.
Whomever comes in better have a stable of people attacking this n.i.l. thing and be well versed .
I was on the Comm of 101 when Barnhart was hired, I admit a change ar AD was needed. But when Barnhart addressed the 101ers in Commonwealth prior to fb season, I came away knowing our FB program wss in trouble. He was a Tennessee wannabe and would do everything to destroy UK
Maybe Stoops will take the hint with Bill Belichick's in season retirement.